How to Delete or Remove Blank Rows in Excel

OK, so you read my last post on inserting rows automatically, and now you have too many and need to remove blank rows in Excel. But you've also read my post about how to create visually appealing spreadsheets and know that blank space can make spreadsheets easier to read, and you're right, however, there is a time and place for empty cells and empty rows.

A large dataset table is not the place. Blank rows make your spreadsheet table look incomplete and impact the accuracy of calculations and data analysis. In this case, you must remove the blank rows. Fortunately, there are various ways to remove these unwanted blank rows, making your Excel worksheet or table more efficient and visually appealing.

What does deleting a blank row mean? Deleting a blank row in Excel refers to the action of removing cells along the same horizontal line. So if you removed a blank row, there would be one less horizontal line of empty cells.

How to Remove Blank Rows in Excel

When it comes to eliminating blank rows in Excel, there are several different methods you can take.

Remove a Row Using the Context Menu

The context menu in Excel is a menu that appears when you right-click on a specific element within the spreadsheet, such as a cell, row, column, or object. This menu provides a quick, convenient and easy way to remove blank rows in Excel. Follow these simple steps:

1. Right-click on the row number that you want to delete. Do not just select a single cell as this will attempt to delete only the selected cell.
2. From the context menu that appears, select “Delete” to remove the selected row.
3. The selected row will be gone, and the existing rows will shift up accordingly.

Remove a Row Using a Keyboard Shortcut

Keyboard shortcuts in Excel are combinations of keys that allow you to perform various commands or actions without using the mouse. There is an easy keyboard shortcut to delete rows in Excel:

Ctrl, – (minus sign)

1. Select the row that you want to remove or delete
2. Press “Ctrl” and hold, then press the “-” key.
3. The selected row will be deleted. As long as there is a selected row, you can continue to hold the “Ctrl” key and press the “-” key to continue to remove single rows.

How to Remove Multiple Rows

What if you need to delete multiple rows from your data set at once? Excel provides a simple method to accomplish this task.

Delete Multiple Row Using the Context Menu

This method can be used to delete single rows (as noted in the first method above), or it can be modified to remove multiple rows, the process is nearly identical:

1. Select the rows you wish to delete by clicking and dragging on the row numbers. Let's say you need to delete 5 rows, then you should highlight those 5 rows.
2. Right-click on the selected rows and choose “Delete” from the context menu.
3. The selected rows will disappear and any existing data below these rows will shift up.
4. Five (5) rows will still be highlighted. If you want to delete those 5 additional highlighted rows right away, you can right-click again on the selected rows and choose “Delete” from the context menu and 5 more rows will be deleted.

If you ever hear someone mention the manual way or manual method to delete rows, this is probably what they are referring to as you must manually choose the rows you wish to delete. In my opinion, it's also the easiest way to remove blank rows in Excel unless you have a lot of them in which case you'll want to use one of the methods in the FAQ section below.

Delete Multiple Rows Using the Home Tab

The Ribbon Home tab offers a quick delete option to remove blank rows in Excel. This method allows you to specify the number of rows you want to remove. Follow these steps:

1. Select all of the rows which you want to delete. To go back to the previous example, you should select 5 rows.
2. Go to the “Home” tab of the Ribbon.
3. Click on the “Delete” button in the Cells group. A drop-down menu will appear.
4. Choose “Delete Sheet Rows” from the drop-down menu.
5. The selected rows will be deleted.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Here are some frequently asked questions about removing blank rows in Excel:

1. How can I delete all blank rows in an Excel sheet quickly?

To delete all blank rows in an Excel sheet quickly, you can use the following method:

• Select the entire data range of cells in your worksheet.
• Press Ctrl+G to open the “Go To” dialogue box.
• Click on the “Special” button.
• Choose the “Blanks” option and click “OK.” This is going to highlight all the rows that have no data in them so you can find empty rows fast! See the image below.
• Right-click on any of the selected cells and choose “Delete.”
• Select the “Entire row” option and click “OK.”

This method is to delete or remove ALL blank rows. You're not choosing which ones you want to remove, you're removing all of them. The instructions within the blog (above the FAQ) have been to remove the rows you want to, not all of them.

2. Can I remove non-contiguous blank rows in Excel?

Yes, you can remove non-contiguous blank rows in Excel by following these steps:

• Hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard.
• Click on the row headings corresponding to the blank rows you want to remove.
• Once you've selected all the desired rows, right-click on any of the selected rows and choose “Delete.”
• Confirm the deletion by selecting the “Entire row” option and clicking “OK.”

This method is the same as the Context Menu. I'm noting it again as it is probably the most used and easiest way to remove blank rows in Excel.

3. Is there a way to automatically remove all empty lines in a large Excel spreadsheet?

Yes, you can automatically remove all empty lines in a large Excel spreadsheet using a filter. Here's how:

• Select the entire data range of cells in your worksheet.
• Go to the “Home” tab and click on the “Sort & Filter” button.
• Choose the “Filter” option.
• Click on the drop-down arrow in the column header of a column with data.
• Deselect the “Blanks” option from the filter dropdown.
• All the blank rows will be hidden. Select the visible rows and right-click to delete them.

4. Can I remove blank cells within a row without deleting the entire row?

Certainly! To remove blank cells within a row without deleting the entire row, you can use the following steps:

• Select the entire data range of cells where you want to remove the blank cells.
• Press Ctrl+G to open the “Go To” dialogue box.
• Click on the “Special” button.
• Choose the “Blanks” option and click “OK.”
• Right click on any of the selected blank cells and choose “Delete.”
• Select the “Shift cells left” or “Shift cells up” option, depending on your preference, and click “OK.”

So that's it! One thing I love about Excel is the multiple ways to accomplish the same thing and you get to choose what path suits you the best. Give it a shot and let me know which method you like the best – and don't forget to save your work before you start deleting. If you delete too much, you haven't lost it all.